Prologis

The third quarter IBI Activity Index reading came in at 53, with the inflection period coming from net absorption, new lease signings, and the proposal pipeline each at healthier levels in the third quarter compared to the 2024 average. And it added that the IBI reading showed a decline, as “supply chain activity peaked early in 2025 due to trade volatility,” adding that the recovery is nonlinear, paced by large and e-commerce companies pacing growth that is expected to be followed by other...

The report, entitled “2026 Prologis Supply Chain Outlook,” was based on feedback from more than 1,800 senior executive throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Mexico, and was released at the company’s Groundbreakers event, which was held in Los Angeles.

As global trade has seen significant shifts in a short time across 2025, coupled with the ongoing need for supply chains to build resilience and speed and become ever more agile, the role of the supply chain has subsequently evolved to being able to respond in short order to various things.

At Prologis’ Groundbreakers event, CEO Hamid Moghadam and Secretary Doug Burgum emphasized the urgent need for abundant, reliable energy to power AI growth, digital infrastructure, and next-gen supply chains

As tariffs and trade policy continued to create uncertainty, there were indications of increased industrial real estate leasing activity in the second quarter, according to the new edition of the Industrial Business Indicator (IBI), which was recently issued by San Francisco-based real estate investment trust company Prologis.

The April IBI Active Index reading came in at 54.4 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth is occurring), following a 58.4 first quarter reading and 19 months in the high 50s and low 60s range. And the IBI Utilization rate headed up to 85.1, after a collective 84.6 reading over February and March.  

In this podcast, Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman interviews Melinda McLaughlin, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Research, for Prologis.

The report, entitled “The E-Commerce Boom Isn’t Over: Implications for Logistics Real Estate,” examines how more than five years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent re-opening of the economy, recent consumer behavior is showing a return to value, convenience, and choice, while examining retailers, supply chains, and logistics real estate, as it relates to e-commerce going forward.

The report, titled “2024: Market Rents Reset After Years of Performance,” found that global logistics rents fell by 5% in 2024, with the U.S. and Canada collectively down 7% and Europe down 1%.

The third quarter IBI Utilization Rate came in at 84.4%, which it said is below what it considers normal levels in the 85%-to-86% range, and reflects spare capacity. The firm added that with existing space to grow into, new logistics real estate demand was subdued, even as GDP was solid and consumption growth.

When top executives at high-profile logistics companies share a stage together, it stands to reason that their opinions and insights will be valuable. That was certainly the case earlier this month, when Hamid Moghadam, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of San Francisco-based real estate investment trust Prologis, and Fred Smith, founder and executive chairman of Memphis-based freight transportation and logistics services provider FedEx, took the stage in London at Prologis’s annual Groundbreakers conference.

Prologis defines the IBI as a survey of customer sentiment focused on customer activity in warehousing. The July IBI reading came in at 60.6 (a reading of 50 or higher indicates growth is occurring), with the company noting that a range between 56-62 as being consistent with healthy consumer activity.

Prologis found that rent growth for global logistics real estate rose 6% annually in 2023, following a record 30% gain in 2023, which the firm said underscores the resilience of logistics real estate fundamentals,

The national vacancy rate remaining low, at 4.8%, compared to a historical expansionary average of 6.1%, even as the pace of new deliveries quickened and added 70 basis point to market vacancies

The ongoing emergence, as well as the potential, of AI (artificial intelligence) was a major theme of the annual Groundbreakers thought leadership forum hosted by San Francisco-based real estate investment trust company Prologis in San Diego this week.